amusing error messages
So, this is pretty geeky, but I got a few interesting error messages today.
First I tried to start an app, and it failed with an error message saying 2 paragraphs about how this shouldn't happen. It was long because it explained that honesty is best and the error msg used to be "unknown error" but that doesn't make any sense to users so it was more honest to say they have no idea what caused it, and to restart the program again. The only problem is that this error message comes up when I try to start the program.
Secondly I was trying to copy a file with a program and it failed with the normal access denied dialog. The funny part was that the status bar at the bottom said, "copy of blah blah failed miserably". It was not enough to said it failed. The developer apparently felt that an access denied cause was a miserable failure, and needed to be expressed as such.
All in all, it is hard to believe that technology works as well as it does for people. I feel like it is pulling teeth trying to keep my contacts up to date when I use a few different mail services and programs. Now I have a nice new mobile phone with a cool address book that needs to join the mix. To get all my contacts onto the mobile phone I need to consolidate my existing ones and clean up individual contact info, from 3 different mail programs. I go back and forward on hating computers, software, and the people who build them (myself included). I guess my biggest problem is that I know how things could have been done, but weren't by companies, and by their developers.
Today I'm pretty bitter about it. It takes too much of my time to do what should be simple things.
First I tried to start an app, and it failed with an error message saying 2 paragraphs about how this shouldn't happen. It was long because it explained that honesty is best and the error msg used to be "unknown error" but that doesn't make any sense to users so it was more honest to say they have no idea what caused it, and to restart the program again. The only problem is that this error message comes up when I try to start the program.
Secondly I was trying to copy a file with a program and it failed with the normal access denied dialog. The funny part was that the status bar at the bottom said, "copy of blah blah failed miserably". It was not enough to said it failed. The developer apparently felt that an access denied cause was a miserable failure, and needed to be expressed as such.
All in all, it is hard to believe that technology works as well as it does for people. I feel like it is pulling teeth trying to keep my contacts up to date when I use a few different mail services and programs. Now I have a nice new mobile phone with a cool address book that needs to join the mix. To get all my contacts onto the mobile phone I need to consolidate my existing ones and clean up individual contact info, from 3 different mail programs. I go back and forward on hating computers, software, and the people who build them (myself included). I guess my biggest problem is that I know how things could have been done, but weren't by companies, and by their developers.
Today I'm pretty bitter about it. It takes too much of my time to do what should be simple things.